Melissa J. Nelson
Founder, Creative Director

Melissa J. Nelson is an archivist, consultant, and educator committed to Black being and belonging in the archives to support collective healing and liberation movements. She is currently an Archivist at the Archives of Ontario. Melissa also hosts the podcast Archives & Things. Learn more about Melissa: https://melissajnelson.com/

Aaron T. Francis
Founding Member, Outreach Lead

Aaron T. Francis is a community archivist, curator and the founder of Vintage Black Canada™. This archive seeks to document the transnational modern history of the African Diaspora in Canada, often with specific reference to Aaron’s hometown of Kitchener-Waterloo.  Learn more about Aaron: https://www.balsillieschool.ca/

Désirée Rochat
Founding Member, Communications Lead

Désirée Rochat is a community educator and transdisciplinary scholar documenting and transmitting the archives of Black lives in Montreal/ Tiohtiá:ke. She is currently a postdoctoral fellow with the Centre for Oral History and Digital Storytelling (COHDS) and the Department of History at Concordia University.  Learn more about Désirée: https://storytelling.concordia.ca/

Dr. Elizabeth Shaffer
Founding Member, Research Lead

A critical archives scholar, Dr. Elizabeth Shaffer investigates the intersections of race, gender, digital infrastructures and technologies. She is the research lead for the archive team on the SSHRC funded Transformative Memory International Network. Elizabeth is also an Assistant Professor at the School of Information at the University of British Columbia. Learn more about Elizabeth: https://ischool.ubc.ca/

Dr. Kristin Moriah
Founding Member, Grant Writing Lead

Dr. Kristin Moriah is an Assistant Professor of English at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario. In 2022 she was a Visiting Fellow at the Pennsylvania State University Center for Black Digital Research and the Pennsylvania State Humanities Institute. Her research interests include Sound Studies and Black feminist performance. Learn more about Kristin: https://www.queensu.ca/